Black Lives Matter’s co-founder informs she is resigning from its foundation, but not due to what she called right-wing attempts to discredit her.
Patrisse Cullors, 37, Black Live Matter’s co-founder, said Friday would be her final day at the foundation, which she has led for nearly six years. Cullors told she would step down from the Black Lives Matter Global Network to specialize in her forthcoming second book, An Abolitionist’s Handbook, and a TV development deal with Warner Bros highlighting black stories.
The activist’s finances came under scrutiny last month after it had been reported she owned four homes. Records showed that Cullors has purchased four mansions worth $3.2 million combined, including a $1.4 million range in Topanga Canyon, a wealthy area of l. a. where just one .4% of the population is black.
In a statement, she said, “I’ve created the infrastructure and the support, and the necessary bones and foundation so that I can leave. It feels like the time is right. Those were right-wing attacks that attempted to discredit my character, and that I don’t operate off of what the right thinks about me.”
The Black Lives Matter Foundation said in another statement that “as a registered 501c3 non-profit organization, [the foundation] can’t and didn’t commit any organizational resources toward the acquisition of personal property by any employee or volunteer. Any insinuation or assertion to the contrary is categorically false.”
In April the foundation told that Cullors had received $120,000 between 2013 and 2019 for her work. Black Lives Matter started as a hashtag in 2013 and has since become a worldwide movement.
